


Belonging

by elvenjade22



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Master & Padawan Relationship(s), Movie: Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the last Jedi au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-24 17:29:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14360184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elvenjade22/pseuds/elvenjade22
Summary: Rey came to the island in search of a Jedi Master.  Instead she found her past, a future, and a new reason to fight.





	Belonging

Rey can't keep her hand from trembling slightly as she holds out the lightsaber toward him, trying to read the look in his eyes.  He's not angry, but he doesn't seem pleased to see her, either—mostly he just looks...sad. Broken. Not at all the Luke Skywalker she was expecting.

He reaches out and accepts the saber from her, holding it loosely in his mechanical right hand while the fingers of his left trace over the smooth metal, circling the igniter and sliding back down to the grip.  He sighs.

"This no longer belongs to me," he says, and pushes it back toward her.  She takes it, staring after him in confusion as he turns his back on her and walks away up the rocky slope.

"Master Skywalker?"

Rey follows him at a distance, using her staff as a walking stick over the rough terrain.  She's certain he knows she's there, but he never once turns around. When he disappears inside an ancient-looking stone hut and pulls the heavy metal door shut behind him, she takes a deep breath and knocks.

"Master Skywalker...Luke...I need—" She falters.  " _ We _ need your help. The Resistance.  They sent me to—to bring you back."

Nothing.  She considers pounding on the door again, trying to kick it down if she has to, but something tells her that wouldn't do any good.  Instead she lowers her voice to just above a whisper, knowing he'll still be able to hear.

"Leia sent me."

After a few more seconds of silence, she senses movement inside, and the door creaks open.  A sliver of light from outside falls on his face, leaving the other half lost in shadow. His expression hasn't changed.

"Leia should know better than anyone why I can never come back," he says.

Rey tightens her grip on the staff, ready to jam the end of it into the doorway if he tries to close it again.  

"I'm not leaving without you."

He studies her for a moment, gray-streaked hair falling across the side of his forehead.  Then he jerks his head to the left.

"The hut next to this one is still in decent shape," he says. "You can sleep there."

And he closes the door.

* * *

Rey wakes in the middle of the night, chilled through and shivering.  The walls keep out most of the wind, but the cold from the ground creeps up through the damp stone platform she's using as a bed, and the thin fabric of her jacket does little to shield her from it.  She opens her eyes and squints against a crack of moonlight shining in through the partially open door—the door she's certain she had closed tightly before she went to sleep.

Rubbing her hands over her arms, Rey swings her legs off the edge of the platform and stands up, walking over to pull the door closed again.  Halfway back to her makeshift bed, she stops—her feet are uneven, one of them on the hard stone of the floor and the other, slightly higher, resting on something soft.  She reaches down, and her fingers close around the edge of a thick blanket. The material is course, but she doesn't care—she snatches it up greedily and wraps it around herself.  She lies back down, tucking the blanket beneath her to keep the dampness off her skin, and falls asleep again in minutes.

* * *

When she hears his door open in the morning, Rey leaps out of bed and rushes outside.  Luke acknowledges her with a glance, but doesn't speak. She opens her mouth to thank him for the blanket, but he's already walking away, back down the slope they had climbed the evening before.  Rey grabs her staff and follows him, amazed at how quickly he strides over the uneven ground—he may look like an old man, but he certainly doesn't move like one.

She hurries to catch up until she's walking alongside him.  Luke stares straight ahead, seemingly doing his best to ignore her.

"Thank you," she says.  "For the blanket."

He grunts by way of reply.

"I didn't realize how cold it would be here," she goes on, trying to draw him out.

He stops walking briefly and turns to look at her, sharp blue eyes taking in the thin fabric of her shirt and jacket, her bare upper arms.

"Obviously not," he says, and starts down the hill again.

"We need your help," Rey calls after him.  "The Resistance won't make it without you."

For a moment she's not sure he'll stop, but finally his stride slows and pauses, shoulders slumped in resignation. He takes a few steps closer to the cliffs and sits on a large rock, motioning with his head for her to join him.

"Why are you here?" he says as she sits down across from him.

"I already told you, the Resistance needs—"

"That's not what I asked."  He looks up at her. "Why are  _ you _ here?"

Rey hesitates.  "I...I need you to train me.  To help me make sense of what I'm feeling, and show me the ways of the...the Force."

Luke shakes his head slowly.  "I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"My role in this is over," he says.  "I've done enough harm as it is."

Rey isn't sure how to respond to that.  She wants to tell him that none of this was his fault, that he can't blame himself for what Kylo became...but how can she know that for sure when she has no idea what actually happened?

Luke turns and looks out over the edge of the cliff, down toward where she left the  _ Falcon _ with Chewie and the droids. His eyes narrow, and Rey's chest tightens as she realizes what he's seeing.

"Where's Han?" he says quietly.

It's the question she's been dreading. A part of her had hoped he would have already known, would have sensed it,  _ felt _ it, when it happened. But the look in his eyes tells her that this is the first time the possibility has ever crossed his mind.  She can't bring herself to say it aloud, but he hears it in her silence.

Until this moment Rey has never watched a man's spirit being broken. He seems to deflate, folding and closing in on himself as if the weight of his hands, his head, his chest are too much for his frame to bear.

" _ How? _ " he asks, in a voice like the cracking of dry stone. He is crumbling.

"Kylo."

The name changes him. Hardens him. He is still broken, but broken like glass—all the more dangerous for being shattered. She can almost see the steel forming in his bones.

" _ Enough _ ."

He stands, pulling together the jagged pieces of himself, and starts back up the hill.  Rey knows enough not to follow him. Not yet.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I genuinely have no idea where this story is going to end up going, or exactly how their relationship is going to progress, but I had to give it a try anyway. Feedback is always welcome! :)


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